Stark Ascending
by iamemeraldfox
Summary: Jupiter Ascending AU Tony didn't have a chance to burst out of the Afghanistan caves with iron and fire. Instead he was kidnapped again. Waking up in a spaceship, he is offered another life, where he is given an enormous power and even greater responsibility. He and his faithful friends, Rhodey and Pepper, try to survive in the mess that awaits them.


His fingers ached after gripping the hammer for long hours. Massaging them to return feeling to his hands, Tony turned to observe his creation. The suit was almost done, heavy metal painstakingly shaped to enable his escape. Building the suit was giving him purpose, and hope that he will leave these caves alive.

The heavy doors opened, and a guard pushed their food plates in, lingering in the doorway to carefully survey the room. With a nod, he retreated.

"Something is happening," murmured Yinsen, "The guards never behaved this way before." He stepped to the plates, bringing the food to the empty corner of the table. "Even the food is better now. While appearing positive, I'm weary of the implication."

Tony nodded. He noticed the change in the caves, subtle differences that had no obvious cause. Knowing their enemy made it easier to fool them and plan their escape. Uncertainty in the enemy functions and leadership can only bring bad news.

They ate the meal prepared for them, then got ready for bed, which consisted of trying to get as comfortable on the hard cots as possible. Tony drifted into an uneasy sleep.

They were awakened in the early morning by the sounds of explosions. They sounded far away, at first, then closer and closer. Muffled by the door, they could hear the whole base was up, trying to identify the threat, yelling and barking orders.

"What are the odds of US Army having found the base and trying to free you?" Yinsen asked doubtfully.

"If it is the Army, they might not know I'm alive and just bomb the whole place. Or it might be an internal conflict. These guys aren't even all that friendly with _each other_ ," answered Tony. Despite his words, he felt hope rise in his chest.

After the explosions quieted, the gunfire became more pronounced. Listening harder, Tony heard a weird sound alongside that, a weapon he never heard before. He frowned. The commotion was suddenly so close they both flinched back. The door burst open and five terrorists ran in, shouting.

"What are they saying?" Tony asked Yinsen, grabbing him by the arm and retreated for cover.

"They are speaking too fast, but just giving orders to barricade the door and contacting their superiors," Yinsen answered.

An impact shaking the door made them crouch lower behind the heavy crate. Good thing too, because the door gave way like paper, one of the big chunks of it piercing one of the men, sending him flying to the wall, not far from their hiding spot. Again, Tony heard the sounds of unknown weapons, a weird whirl and an impact. In seconds, it was all over.

Then it was silence, except for the far away fighting. Tony and Yinsen waited, hidden and hoping they went unnoticed. Tony tried to muffle his breathing, his whole body tense, ready to run or defend himself.

What happened next was too fast for him to react to. A lithe form jumped over the crate and was behind them before he could blink. Just able to take in the pale, inhuman face, Tony ducked to the side, but it was too late. A flash and his left wrist sported a band glowing slightly blue, incapacitating his whole hand. Swinging with his right, intent to punch the creature in the face, Tony stumbled. His legs were sporting bands too, put there by another creature behind him. In the time it took him to look, his right wrist was caught and he stated floating, all control of his limbs lost. His breath came in fitful gasps.

"Check if it's him," said one of the creatures. There were three of them around him, pale grey and grotesque, with too long limbs bending all wrong.

Tony tried to keep them all in his field of vision, even when they turned him on his front, about a meter above the ground. Yinsen was nowhere to be seen.

One of the beings ( _aliens_?) pulled up a mini-gun from somewhere, even though they were naked, and directed it to his head. No, wait, his neck.

Tony really, _really_ didn't want to die.

The gun whirled, like it was charging up, then...beep-ed.

"It's him," he heard the Thing say.

"Good. Prepare for transport."

Darkness swam over his vision, and then he heard nothing at all.

* * *

Tony woke up above a bed. Not _on_ the bed, like a normal person. But floating above it. It was… comfortable. His body felt supported, instead of untethered and out of control. Tony has been in zero gravity before, in planes. This was nothing like that.

A push ( _on air_?) brought him to a sitting position, and he floated down until he was actually sitting on the bed. The room he was in was spacious enough, and octagonal, the walls made of dark metal. All that was in it was the lavish bed, a door across from it, a grand table laden with what looked like food, and an octagonal window.

#Good morning, Your Majesty. I am Zie, a Chamber presence built into this room. Please address all your needs to me,# sounded the vaguely mechanical female voice through the room.

Tony turned, but there was no one with him, so it must have come through the comms. Suspicious, he searched for any cameras or other equipment installed to spy on him. 'Built into' implied a program, an AI, but that was impossible. The only AI he knew existed was JARVIS.

"Where am I?" he demanded. The last thing he remembered was being kidnapped by aliens, who didn't even have the decency to be green, or have antennas.

#You are aboard the Sarronix speeder ship, currently stationed in orbit of a minor uninhabited planet called Mars, Your Majesty.#

What.

"A space ship," deadpanned Tony.

#Yes, Your Majesty. If I may direct you to the window on your left?# came the voice again.

Not letting his guard down, Tony stepped to the window. And _stared_. Under him, there was a vast expense of a planet's surface, colored rusty red. Tony saw enough pictures that he recognised Mars on sight.

His hand reached out in a flash, searching for any signs of projectors or monitors. But the window turned out to be just a window, as far as he could tell.

He was… in space.

"How did I get here?" he wondered out loud.

Before he could get an answer, the door opened and through them came a man with big pointed ears growing from the top of his head, and large yellow eyes. He looked sort of cat-like, except his hair ( _fur_?) was blackish-purple.

"Your Majesty," nodded the man, who Tony dubbed Furry for the foreseeable future.

"And who are you?" As long as there were no naked alien Things that kidnapped him, he could handle it.

"I am Nikin, Your Majesty. Please forgive me for all the unpleasantness regarding your arrival. The Keepers, the creatures who brought you here, are the most efficient resource we could use for your extraction, even if they are… inelegant."

Tony snorted. "Inelegant? And what is with all Your Majesty business?"

"Perhaps you would like to sit, my Lord? And maybe try some of the food. Our sources say your meals were unsatisfactory in the last three months." Nikin motioned to the fancy table and a disk detached itself from underneath it, levitating on the right height for a chair. A moment later, some kind of back support formed as well, looking like levitating fabric.

He winced at the reminder of his captivity, but when in Rome…

Tony sat, and the chair proved to be surprisingly comfortable. The more he relaxed, the more supporting the fabric he reclined against became.

He reached for what looked like a little cupcake, small enough to eat in one bite, and turned back to Furry.

"Well, out with it."

Furry positioned himself by the desk, back straight. He looked a bit like a soldier to Tony, if soldiers ever looked this ridiculous. Or maybe like a butler.

"I am employed by the Sarronix family, specifically by His Majesty Arion Sarronix, to serve as a secretary and intermediator between His Majesty and his Personal Guard. I was tasked in His Majesty's Will to keep an eye on a possible Recurrence, and if found to provide him with all the information he might need to access his inheritance.

"That is when you come in, Your Majesty. His Majesty Arion Sarronix died in an attack on his person when his age was reaching 78 millenia. His death happened 1,343 years ago. "

Tony, eyebrows high, almost inhaled his next bite of cake.

"When a person's genes manifest again, in the same order, you get what we call reincarnation. Or rather, Recurrence. Your genetic makeup is identical to that of Arion Sarronix. His Majesty has written in his Will that all his wealth, estates, and the whole company belonging to Sarronix family, goes to his Recurrence, as he has no direct heirs of his own. The Sarronix fortune and assets were handled by his faithful employees until the Recurrence was found. We have found you, Your Majesty, and spent the last two years preparing for your arrival, but your abduction by terrian terrorists forced our hand..."

"Hold up!" yelped Tony, cutting the monologue short. "You're saying I'm some kind of… clone to a space guy, and that makes me his heir?"

"Not clone. Clones are considered inferior beings, lacking plasticity of the genome. You were natural born, with the necessary sequence of genes. And who would His Majesty leave all his possessions to, if not himself?" Furry asked, his ears twitching.

"And that makes me, what?" managed out Tony, his mind reeling.

"You are His Majesty, King of the Sarronix Empire," stated Nikin simply.

"Right." Tony stood, feeling like livewire, the implications threatening to suffocate him. He stumbled to the window, staring into space. Or rather, into Space!

"What happened in Afghanistan? What happened in the caves I was...in?" Where he was imprisoned, tortured.

"When the Keepers found you and determined you were held against your will, I instructed they destroy the base and kill everyone in it. I thought it the most prudent course of action, my Lord."

Tony turned, shocked.

"Everyone? You ordered that?" he choked out. It was what he wanted to do, after he completed the suit. To burst his way out. To kill his way out, avenging all the suffering he went through, all the damage his weapons made to american troops. To have it handled, just like that, by this fluffy eared man, felt unreal. However, he also couldn't help but feel satisfaction, knowing that his captors were dead.

Then he remembered. "And Yinsen? The man who was with me when these Keepers… took me."

"A moment please, Your Majesty," said Nikin, bringing out a tablet, not unlike those Tony used in his workshop, technology above anything found on Earth otherwise.

"Ah, yes, Ho Yinsen, questioned when proved he had no ill intentions towards your person at that moment. We have gained crucial information on your physical condition out of him, including the shrapnel surrounding your heart and the electromagnet preventing your death. While this ship isn't equipped to remove the shrapnel and replace the bone and tissue, all other minor injuries were healed and treated by the medical expert on board.

"It was determined Ho Yinsen held no ill will towards you, and has helped you out of desire for revenge against the terrorists who killed his family. For saving your life, he was rewarded; he is alive, but had all his memories erased. We have returned him to his home."

Tony just breathed, assimilating all this. Yinsen's family was dead. But he was alive, safe, and home. Forcefully, he pulled himself together. First things first.

"The shrapnel can really be removed?" he seeked confirmation. Arc reactor, while saving his life, would have debilitating effects in the long run. His decreased lung capacity and a constant danger to his heart being just the first of many, Yinsen explained it to him.

"Yes, Your Majesty. You employ an excellent medical team, permanently stationed in one of your planet residences. However, before you would be able to access it, you will have to confirm your identity and claim your inheritance. To do that, we must go to the planet Orous. We await your decision and your orders, Your Majesty." Nikin bowed, some sort of short nod.

Right.

"So, in short, I've inherited a business, or empire, whatever that means, from a guy that is basically my twin from a different mother. And now I'm supposed to claim it as my own. On another planet."

"Yes, my Lord," confirmed the alien, calm as anything. No fucks to give.

"I already have a company, you know," he tried.

"Yes, Stark Industries, Your Majesty. Upon claiming your title, you can do with it as you wish, of course, as Earth will be your property," nodded Nikin.

Wait, back up!

"My property?!" he exclaimed.

"Sarronix Empire encompasses ten Seeded planets, with Earth being one of them. You also own four uninhabited planets, all close to the Seeded planets. One of them is Mars, for example," explained Nikin.

"I own Mars?" this was getting ridiculous.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Or you will, when you claim the title. Next, you own two planets with your residences on them, and two gas giant planets with a Refinery and other factories. Of course, all moons orbiting these planets are included, most uninhabited, but one orbiting your residential planet and seven orbiting Refineries are populated by renting civilians."

"And what am I supposed to do with all these planets and moons?" asked Tony sarcastically, trying to wrap his mind around the enormity of it.

"Whatever you wish, Your Majesty. Once you claim them, they are yours to do as you please," nodded Nikin, like people get planets to play with all the time.

Tony felt a headache forming. There was an alien furry, all calm and collected, explaining that he owned Earth and seventeen other planets, and became a king because he looked like some dude who died a...thousand years ago?

"How old did you say this Arion was, again?"

"His Majesty Arion Sarronix was 77,957 years of age when he died," supplied Nikin.

"That is not possible," ground out Tony.

"Intergalactic technology is far superior to Earth's, Your Majesty. The ability to prolong life is the pride of your civilisation. As an Entitled, prolonged life is your right."

Tony ran a hand through his hair, gripping it tight. He couldn't…

"Out," he choked out, breathing hard.

"Your Majesty?" inquired Nikin, looking a bit unsure for the first time since he came inside the room.

"Get out! I have been kidnapped by terrorists, and tortured, and dying, then kidnapped again, this time by aliens, and now a cat furry is calling me king and telling me I can live forever…! I can't. OUT!" he yelled.

In the next moment, he was alone in the room, doors closing.

Tony stumbled to the bed, sitting down heavily, head between his knees. He sat motionless like that, minutes passing by. Thoughts ran scrambled through his mind, jumping from pain to space to death to aliens…

Moving and grasping the sheets tight with his fists, Tony screamed. He screamed out horror and sorrow and anger, the all consuming rage he felt for his captors in the cave that now had no outlet. He screamed and screamed, until he could scream no more, coughing into the silky fabric. He lied there, just breathing, after that.

Trying to gather himself together.

When the sore throat became too much of a bother, he stood up, searching for something to drink. He sniffed through glasses on the table, but recognised none of the smells.

"Damn it." He looked up, addressing the room. "Hey, can a guy find some water around here?"

#Certainly, Your Majesty. Enriched water is in the blue bottle. It contains nutrients that will help your recovery, but is tasteless,# said the AI. He was pretty sure it was AI, anyway.

After emptying two glasses of water, he asked just that.

#Yes, Your Majesty. I am a Chamber presence, what we call _sim_ , named Zie. I am a sub-unit installed in this room and tasked with upholding your comfort. Other Zie units are installed in all your sleeping chambers. I am programmed to learn how best to serve you, Your Majesty, so please ask for any comfort you need and I will endeavour to assist you.#

Huh. So basically, a female JARVIS, except less sass. He could live with that.

"Well, Zie, let's start with you describing all these foods to me. I don't want to eat anything disgusting by accident."

#Of course, Your Majesty.#

"Call me Tony," he asked, feeling uncomfortable with all this His Majesty business.

#Calling you by your proper title is one of my protocols, Your Majesty. To change them, you will have to claim your inheritance first. My apologies.#

Tony sighed, waving his hand to brush the matter off.

Despite being awkward, it still stroked his ego, in some backwards sort of way.


End file.
